Gender Does Matter
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Rei knows that she loves Ryo, but she needs to find out more about him to get him to love her back. Perhaps spying on him and his closest friend could help her, or hinder her. Ryo/Fubuki and one-sided Ryo/Rei.


Notes: For gx_100. Set prior to season one, before Fubuki's disappearance and soon after Ryo duelled Rei.

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Fubuki stopped himself from making comment as Ryo pushed to door closed. But it was hard. Oh man it was hard. He smirked at his friend as he saw a look of frustration cross his face.

"Don't say a word!" Ryo growled, glancing up at him with his back against the door.

"Wouldn't dream of," purred Fubuki. Though he had broken that pact right there.

He listened to the outside of the door as various degrees of screaming issued from female mouths. And though he wouldn't say it he did warn Ryo that this would happen. Though Ryo had discarded the caution. Usually he would have been more careful but he'd been eager to join a tournament since the holidays began. He wanted to see what sort of opponents the world away from the academia currently had to offer. What he hadn't expected was screaming girls following him home after he'd won. Fubuki saw that coming a mile off.

"How was the tournament then?" He cheerfully asked Ryo, ignoring the noise.

"Other than them it was good," confessed Ryo, "The final was between myself and a respectable female duellist. She was young but I admired her skill and think she'd make a good student one day."

"Not one of that lot then?" Fubuki gestured towards the door.

Raising and eyebrow at him Ryo shook his head; "She'd be too young to go after me in that way."

This made Fubuki laugh a little. Ryo genuinely had no idea how girls worked.

It didn't take long for the gaggle of stalkers outside to lose interest. Slowly it grew quieter and quieter until there was no sound at all. In the meanwhile both Ryo and Fubuki had been carrying on with various summer essays and TV watching – in Fubuki's case – even through the noise.

The two of them had taken a hotel room during the tournament because it was closer to the site than either of them lived. Though not unusually, at the last moment Fubuki had dropped out of entering the tournament.

When the programme Fubuki was watching ceased to be interesting and the volume from outside the room was quiet enough he walked over to Ryo, who was pouring over books that were sprawled out on a desk in front of him. Ryo always found a desk when he needed to work. It was a law of nature.

He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and commented, "You don't need to do that now."

"The tournament was a whole day out of studying, I need to catch up," insisted Ryo.

"You're in a hotel, relax," said Fubuki, pulling the chair back with his other hand.

Ryo looked up at him and answered, "I have no desire to watch TV with you. No matter what you say - 'How It's Made' is not funny."

"It's pretty sexual though," joked Fubuki, more to himself than Ryo, before saying in a louder tone, "Perhaps we wouldn't watch TV."

"What do you intend to do then?"

But that was all that the girl heard. Leaning closer to get a better look at Ryo she had lost her grip on the branch of the tree and slid down a few notches.

Mentally cursing herself, Rei hoped she hadn't made too much noise and tried to get back to the position she was in before.

She didn't know who the other boy was, and frankly she did not care, but she had to get another glance at Ryo. He had defeated her in the tournament. She who had risen up as the latest of child prodigies in duelling and who had not lost before. He had taken it away from her. He'd seen the faults in the maiden deck she used and worked them against her while she had no way to stop him. But then he hadn't gloated. He'd shook her hand and treated her with respect, telling her that her strategies were well thought out.

From then Rei knew that Ryo was a perfect man. And that no one else was worth giving attention to other than him.

While she'd been considering this, the small girl had pulled herself up to the branch she was on before. But she couldn't see them now. They must both have moved to the other side of the room where the window didn't reach.

Gingerly, she put one of her feet onto the balcony and balanced herself before softly removing her weight from the tree and standing there. She silently moved closer to the window, edging around to see if Ryo was still there.

Though she couldn't see them their voices came back into her range of hearing once more.

"You really shouldn't, what if…" Her heart pounded at the sound of Ryo's voice but it was soon cut off by the other boy's words.

"What if nothing. It's not as if anyone you know is even near this hotel, and you deserve some fun." The other boy's voice felt sort of muffled.

There was silence for a few moments, as if Ryo was thinking about what was said. After it had felt like she'd held her breath for half a minute he spoke.

"Once. And you have three minutes."

Whatever these three minutes contained Rei did not hear, which annoyed her no end as she tried to move to a spot where she could see them.

She had to duck once more as someone walked past. From the flash of blue hair she determined that it was the boy she came here for, and for a moment she saw him wipe his mouth with a smirk against his lips.

His voice sounded again, this time containing a hint of an emotion that she had not heard from him before, satisfaction perhaps, "The bar will be closing in about ten minutes. If we wanted anything to eat or drink it'd be best to get it now."

After another gap there was the sound of a door clicking shut and it was safe for Rei to breathe. She slumped down against the wall but found the pang of annoyance inside of her. She didn't know who this other boy was and what he was doing near Ryo. Perhaps she could find out while they were gone.

Gathering her nerves she pulled the window wider open and edged herself through. She landed quietly enough and stood up to look at the desk Ryo had been working at before he moved. She stepped forward to be closer to the writing he's made with his own hand –

"You make a habit of sneaking into people's rooms?"

She stopped moving. The other boy hadn't left with Ryo. Damn.

"Are you one of the girls from outside the door? Most of the others are gone now," he spoke with a drawl, as if it didn't make a difference to him and he was hardly threatened by Rei being there.

She turned to face him, gathering up her strength to say, "Hardly. I am Ryo's opponent from the final round, and I came here to see him."

He raised an eyebrow at her referring to Ryo by his name instead of Kaiser. As he sat propped up against the bed he looked her up and down, though it was hardly much effort considering how short she was.

"Why did you want to see him?" the boy asked carefully, his expression unreadable.

"Because…" she said, pausing for a moment before considering that if the boy was Ryo's friend he should know of her feelings, "…Because I have fallen for Ryo, and I want to be with him."

The boy looked serious for a moment but did not laugh or act in shock as she expected. It was hard to tell what his impression was.

"You poor thing," he uttered, in what he must have thought was a voice she wouldn't hear, before sighing and saying, "You'll have a hard job being in love with Ryo."

"What makes you say that?" she asked defensively.

"He, well… he," he scratched his head, looking for the words, "He's not really the type who likes girls."

She scowled at this unusual boy and his unusual statement. That could not be true.

When she didn't say anything he carried on, "And you see, since you're a girl he probably wouldn't like you. So perhaps it would hurt you less if you stopped liking him before you get hurt. Because you can't really stop being a girl."

She started to make a response but the sound of footsteps could be heard from close to the door. With another scowl at the boy she turned and moved out of the window again, much quicker than she had come in.

She was starting to climb down the tree, too angry to notice the pain as the branches brushed past her, as the sound of Ryo could be heard back in the room. His voice stopped her, and even with the risk of getting caught she had to hear him.

"You're sure you weren't talking to anyone Fubuki?" he said.

"No, must have been the TV," came the voice of the boy who was called Fubuki, "But I'd been wondering, who did you say the girl was you competed against today?"

"Her name was Rei, she'll probably go far with duelling," answered Ryo, not thinking anything of it.

She scaled down the rest of the tree, half of her feeling content with the compliment and the other half of her annoyed with Fubuki's accusation. She tried to fathom his claim, piecing it together with the three minutes of silence from when she'd listened to them. If Ryo did not like girls was Fubuki the boy who Ryo liked? When Ryo had wiped his lips had it been because Fubuki had kissed him?

She shook her head. They couldn't be in love, because she loved Ryo. But he didn't like girls… And Fubuki would have that advantage over her.

Unless she stopped being a girl.

As she started the walk back home she pulled her long hair back with her hands, making a motion as if tying it back. Yes, she could look like a boy. A boy who perhaps Ryo would love.

Rei Saotome had a new goal to strive for.


End file.
